Somebody's Nobody
by Monkey Typewriter
Summary: A Nobody comes into being in the Realm of Darkness, and tries to reconcile himself with who his Somebody was... or is... like. CAUTION: SPOILERS! If you read it, cool. Please review if you can and leave story suggestions. I'm currently flying by the seat of my pants with my first FF Story. Sequel has been deleted/cancelled. I don't want to make a crap story from a great game.
1. Awakened

Somebody's Nobody

I awoke in darkness. It was all-encompassing, and unforgiving as husks of people and the darkness within those same people clashed unendingly in a wicked dance of claws, swords, and fists. They were incredibly hard to see, and I heard the battles, rather than saw them. I ignored these creatures, as they ignored me. I searched for something to head towards, as being aimless in an infinite expanse of darkness was not a good idea. I saw a thin path of brightened sand, seeming to levitate without touching the darkness, but with darkness all around it. It was difficult to comprehend. I walked towards it, but It seemed to be moving with me, keeping pace, keeping me from reaching It, and forcing me to avoid and weave through the battles between the Husks and the Darknesses. It wasn't easy. I eventually decided to not go for the sand, but walk parallel to it. The lit walkway had no tricks for that. Eventually, I came to a beach, where spires of obsidian clawed at the sky. There was a group of twelve people in hoods, and one turned, putting his hood down, and said with what looked like boredom, "We've been expecting you, Xanthan."

I looked at the group, twelve figures in robes as dark as the inky waters. The one that spoke stepped forward, his features hard to make out. He definitely had yellow eyes, and a head of long white hair that was in stark contrast with his tan complexion. I stepped towards him, as he answered the question just on my lips. "I am Xemnas. I am a Nobody, like yourself. Like the Husks that you saw battling the Heartless, those beings born of Darkness. When one seperates from a heart, taking it's impulses, feelings, and primal instincts, we are also created. We're what's left. The intelligence. The skill. The perfect vessel." He finished, and without explanation, stepped back, allowing a hunched older man to step forward. "The perfect vessel indeed." he said in a gruff voice. "We come to you, asking that you be our Thirteenth. A war is coming, and if you wish to survive it, You must pick a side. There will be casualties, but the risk is well worth the reward."

I stared at the old man, not knowing what to say. "This war... You are... Certain? That you will win?" He seemed annoyed by my question, saying, "Of course. We have the advantages: the knowledge, the numbers, and countless contingency plans. There's no losing." "The best laid plans..." I said, and he got immediately angry. He said with a coldness in his voice, "Don't finish that sentence." I shrugged, walking around the group down to the blue sand that met the near black water. I stood with my feet in the shore, looking at the horizon, which glowed weakly, as if light had no business in this place, and feared coming. I asked the group, really asked the tan guy with the gray hair, "Is Xanthan my name?" Instead, the older man walked to me, looking at the horizon and smiling. He continued walking until he was even with me, staring at the horizon. He whispered, barely audible, "For now." I looked at him inquiringly as he drew a giant black key and stabbed me in the chest. I felt a heart beginning to beat in my chest, overriding my will with the man's own memories. I fought, screaming in pain. This thing in my chest, it _made_ me feel this pain. It forced itself upon me. I tried to keep my mind my own, but his was so much more powerful. I had no memories, no possesions, nothing to focus on, no _IDENTITY_. I was becoming another vessel, and then... The pain stopped. 'My' heart ceased beating.I fell on my hands and knees, breathing heavily, while the old man looked at me in contempt. He turned to the group of eleven that still hadn't moved.

"He is not a fit vessel, besides the fact that he is completely empty, there is something in him that I cannot overcome. Some... hatred. Most likely residual from his Somebody. We should find his Somebody. The memories locked in this one's head tell me that he'd be perfect."

"And what of him?" asked a man that bore a striking resemblance to the first speaker, but with an odd symbol on his chest. "How do we dispose of him?" "We don't. We leave him for the Heartless. Have fun." The old man responded, directing the last to me. He walked into the water, an oval portal of pure darkness opening in front of him. The others followed him through, one by one. I was still on hands and knees when the Heartless descended on me.


	2. Dive of the Husk

Chapter 2

The Heartless tore at my cloak, ripping it in several places. They bludgeoned me with misshapen fists, and sliced at me with claws and swords. I somehow heard a soft rustling over the heartless attacking me, and the Heartless turned to battle something as a horde rather than an army. They were driven off by a giant force of Husks. The Nobodies sent the Heartless running, losing more and more as the fled the onslaught. The Nobodies followed my every movement, and then surrounded me, facing outward, as if to defend me.

I looked up at them, as I'd been knocked over in all the confusion of being mauled. noting how those on the inner few rings watched me. The nobodies were all different, with many rings in order all around. The Nobodies only made lines with those that resembled themselves, with lines of large tan creatures, with even larger weapons, strange chakram shaped grey ones, and rows upon rows of the white Zipper-Mouthed ones. There were others of course, but they were too far away to make out. I turned to the Nearest dusk, and said, "Thank you for your aid. without it, I surely would've been destroyed." The mouth of the creature unzipped, seemingly of its own accord. It responded in a voice that could not be heard, only felt.

"Of course, my Liege."

With that, I fell asleep.

I found myself, because 'awoke' is too strong a word, sinking alarmingly fast through water as I struggled to breathe. My sinking slowed, and my feet brushed the floor before i landed in a heap. As I stood, I saw the floor. It was a stained glass floor, with a symbol that I recognized as the same on the heads of the Zipper-Mouthed Husks. It was a symbol of something, of... Husks, I realized. So, It was my symbol, and I embraced it. A voice that I'm sure was all in my head said to me, "A possible bearer of The Keyblade, heartless in his own way, yet a Nobody." I searched for the source of th voice, and walked towards the Nobody symbol, trying to see through it. I couldn't.

Instead it reflected my own image. I was shocked to see that the robes on my reflection were not torn (matching my own), and I looked around again. something was off here. I searched the circular... pedestal, and saw only darkness over the sides, and nothing that explained anything. I heard a rumbling, and turned to see three stands rise from the glass, seemingly without breaking it. Each holding a different item. One held a strange scepter with a symbol atop it with a direct copy of the one that was just adopted as my own, the one on the floor. Another had a kite-shield emblazoned with a matching symbol. The third held a sword, with the same on the hilt. "Choose." The voice commanded with utter contempt. I was inexplicably drawn to the sword, and I longed to have it. I grabbed from the pedestal. It was far lighter than it looked, and three feet of shining metal destruction. I moved after a few seconds of silent awe to the shield, thinking to expand my arsenal. I reached to touch it, but it dissapeared n a flash.

The voice returned, sounding happy, saying, "Now to meet your Somebody." I was again drawn to the symbol on the floor. I looked at the image of myself, and really saw myself for the first time, in literal terms. My face was emotionless as always, andmy blue eyes looked sharp, if a bit bored. My hair was longer than I would've liked, as it could be used against me in a fight. It was only about four inches long, but still. Then the Reflection smiled.

And I didn't.

NOTE: It took me forever to write this down because of the power outages in jersey. However, I am ahead because While my power was down, I continued fleshing out the story.


	3. Reflections

Chapter 3

The Reflection climbed out of my symbol and summoned a sword identical to mine, but with a strange heart like symbol on the hilt, instead of my own. It wore the same robes as me, until it cast them off, revealing a black, sinewy armor-like clothing. The smile he wore was cold and calculating, but held more emotion than my face. I held my sword up in a defensive way, and he pointed his right at my face. The voice returned then, "The vessel, devoid of emotion, and his counterpart, a being, with a heart so filled to the brim with hate, that he lost it. Who, I wonder, is superior?"

I could recognize the voice. It belonged to that old man who tried to kill me. The Reflection began his assault, moving faster than I could try to block, so I jumped backwards. I refocused on the Reflection, and launched my own attack. He blocked it all too easily, so much so that I pulled back to asses him. Exactly the same size as me, same size sword, same speed... The only thing that was in his favor was his skill. He was better than me, and it showed sorely. The cold smile on his face changed to delight as he reached the same conclusion as me.

He attacked again, and I had my hands full just trying to block his blows. The sword hammered my left, then it came up from the ground, then it arced at me from above. The voice returned, saying "An empty vessel. Unfit to serve." I saw a flash of that old man who had caused me so much pain in a matter of seconds. "Unfit to battle." It was clear that he was talking about how I was losing to this Reflection's skill. "Unfit to BE!"The voice screamed in my mind as the Reflection nailed me in the face with his pummel and I felt blood blossoming on my face. I fell onto the Symbol of Husks, and he smiled down at me, mouthing, "Unworthy," as he faded, slowly dissipating into a black smoke. The Voice came again, saying "The Broken Vessel."

I stood again, and found myself back in the ring of Nobodies, and I noticed that many rings were gone, and the outermost one was under attack right now. I walked through the rings on the inside, and approached the Heartless who were assaulting my guards, my troops. I held out my hand, and my sword appeared in a flash of light. I slashed through some heartless with swords for arms and a few with armor and claws. I leapt at some low-floating Heartless who were throwing fireballs. The Heartless turned their total attention towards me, and The Nobodies destroyed them, causing dozens of hearts to fly skyward as I destroyed any Heartless that came close. It was a horrible plan for me, charging to the center of a horde and hoping that my troops could cut through them fast enough to save me. Lucky enough for me, they did. We then surrounded and slaughtered the remaining Heartless. 'Unfit to battle'. almost funny.

I turned to the nearest Nobody, The big tan type, with the weird crescent-on-a-stick weapon, and asked if it could get me out of this place. It didn't say anything, just walked up to me, weapon over its shoulder, and held its weapon out to me, handle first. I grabbed it, and the weapon disappeared, leaving an obsidian portal, identical to the one the old man used. "Thank you." I said. It dipped its head in acknowledgement. I walked through the portal, and found myself...


	4. A Loaded Offer

NOTE: I'm not going too far into descriptions, because I'm assuming you've played the games. If not, why the hell are you reading this?

Chapter 4

I found myself in the middle of a town, a shopping area to be precise. The shop owners all shouting, vying for the attention of the shoppers. Someone eventually noticed me, and ran up to me, brandishing some throwing stars. She yelled to someone out of sight, "Help! Organization! Sword!" The people who had been bargaining and swindling each other cleared out, running out different directions. The woman and I were left with an Arena with a few people looking on for a good fight. I looked at the sword that was still in my hand, and let it disappear in a small flash of light. I looked at her, and said "I didn't come here for revenge, I came here to look for the man who attacked me."

She smiled grimly, and said, "You're not even trying to hide yourself are you? You sound like a robot." She turned and yelled "Leon!" and I turned as well, seeing a man with brown hair run up, a strange gun/sword in hand. He pointed it at me and a fireball exploded from the tip of the sword as the part that would hold bullets on a gun rotated.

I leapt to the left, taking a ninja star in the shoulder. I looked at them both inquisitively, and asked, "Why are you attacking me?" The man with the gun/sword charged me, as the girl back-flipped, throwing more stars. I closed my eyes, sighing, and drew my sword. I deflected one or two throwing stars, took another in the same left shoulder, and summoned my sword with my right arm. I blocked his attacks, stopping them in their tracks, and pushed him back with one arm. I was stronger than I thought. Good.

I was caught in my musings when another star hit me in the back of my left knee. I didn't feel any pain, but I knew that something was wrong, and my leg wouldn't support my weight, bringing me to one knee. I looked at the hurt knee, then back p to see the blunt end of a sword smack me in the face.

I woke up in a fairly big room, with a blonde guy at a huge computer. Without turning he yelled into the next room, "Prisoner's up." I saw that I was strapped to a circular table, and looked at the doorway as the two that fought me walked in, along with a spiky-red headed man with an identical robe to mine. His face held good humor, and he said, "I know that you're pretty new a Nobody, so I'll forgive if you don't already know me. I'm Lea, got it memorized?" I looked at him, and said, "Sure, I'll commit it to memory. Why are you restraining me." The guy that had the Gun/Sword was about to answer, when Lea cut him off. "Cause' you're a Nobody. That means that you'll likely be in the new Organization. But you weren't there when I saw the eleven Xehanort already had, you're too new."

"But," the guy with the strange sword said, "It's possible that Xehanort got to him already." "Yeah, it's possible, but look at his eyes. They're blue, not yellow. He's still him, and-" "Excuse me," I interrupted, "But who is Xehanort." Again, Lea was first to answer. "Cranky old guy, wants to make a weapon of mass destruction, yadda yadda, let's get some ice cream from that old duck." I looked at him, asking, "Old... duck? Xehanort's a duck?" "No, the duck's someone else entirely. Xehanort's the evil guy with a white goatee and a huge hunch-back. The duck makes the greatest Sea-Salt Ice-cream you've ever tasted."

I looked at them all, and asked, "The guy that makes people other hims?" "That's the one!" Lea said, and asked what I knew about him. "Well," I started, "When he tries to brainwash you, it _really_ hurts, and that was the only time I ever felt anything. Even when you hit me with those throwing stars," I said, nodding to the woman, who looked confused by the fact that I was talking. "Didn't hurt, they just kind of made themselves known. Also, He has a group of about eleven followers-" "We already know that." The big man with the strange sword responded. "He's useless. I say we kill him." "Yeah." The woman jumped in, finally understanding what was happening around her. "He can only be a threat now."

The red-haired guy, Lea, let his air of happiness evaporate for a minute. He sighed, grabbing the bridge of his nose with thumb and fore-finger. "Wait Leon." He said to the man already moving on me with a sword, stopping him in his tracks. "He's only gonna be an enemy because _you_ two geniuses made him one, attacking for appearing out of nowhere. Look," He said to me. "You just admitted to meeting Xehanort, which to these two means that you're a part of his plan, and maybe you are. but I remember how it was to be a Nobody. It was no fun. And," he continued indignantly, "I _always_ got stuck with the icky jobs. So, here's what we'll do. I'll take you to Yen Sid, see what the geezer has to say. Maybe you can help us. If you can't they will destroy you, and I will be sorry. So, Whaddaya say?"

"That isn't much of a choice, is it?" I asked, and Lea smiled once again, cutting me off of the table with an oversized Key that resembled a red chakram with flames coming out of it.


	5. She Likes Me!

Chapter 5

As soon as Lea had cut me free, that Leon or whatever his name was started screaming his head off. At Lea. "YOU IDIOT! Do you REALIZE what you've DONE? You may have just doomed Radiant Garden-" "Leon." Axel cut him off coldly, which seemed odd for some reason, coming from him. "I realize what I've done. I just turned a possible enemy into an ally. An enemy that _you_ and that unthinking girl that calls herself a ninja mindlessly created. Now, BACK OFF." He finished with great force. Unpredictably, he grinned. "Besides, to me, It'll always be Hollow Bastion." He walked out, and I followed him, noting the shocked expressions on their faces. When we got outside, Lea lost all composure.

"Did you _see_ their faces?" He managed, hands on knees, fighting for control, but the mirth bubbling out of him. He got it under control quickly enough that he could walk with me while still chuckling. He continued, still laughing a bit, "I mean, i meant to sound angry, but that was just so... so..." "Severe?" I offered sounding bored, trying to figure out the enigma that walked beside me. He eventually stopped laughing all together. "I hadn't meant to be like that, not exactly. I'd been without emotion for so long, my emotions seem to come and go of their own free will." As if to demonstrate this, his face became cold again. "But, of course, _he _ gave me some freedom from those times in my reality that were so incredibly... drab. I won't forget him, even if I met his _him_." It occurred to me that, like he said, he was a Nobody at one point. and if what he said could be believed, he may have become a bit unstable - at least emotionally, from the return to how he was. I pondered this, and assumed, giving him the benefit of the doubt, that he'll be fine, in time.

And we were off.

we walked to the very edge of town, coming across what was once a part of the same town. There were craters and pools of water everywhere. I was trying to make sense of it all, when Lea seemed to take pity on me, and said, "Battle of 1000 Heartless. Sora did a number on them, but a lot of these people helped."

"Did you?" I asked him. He didn't switch into some other type of extreme emotion, just coolly saying, "Nah, I was still a Nobody then. It was all them.e're here!" he called cheerfully, almost cutting himself off. He stepped to the edge of the world, nothing but blackness and a few stars beneath us.

As I was about to ask why we were here, a strange, star-covered train shimmered in the distance, following a phantom-track to pull up beside us. "Alright," he said, "Come on in." we got on the train and it drove itself through a keyhole in the tracks. and when I say Keyhole, I mean a giant keyhole shaped portal, that emptied us out in another World. The train stopped, pulling up to the edge of the world, and we hopped off, the train fading into nothing, leaving the phantom track empty.

We walked towards a strange tower, and began to ascend. about halfway up, we walked through a series of doors, bringing us up and down, to different sections of the same way up. It was a convoluted tower. As we neared a large door, a redheaded girl walked out, seeming depressed. Lea smiled, breaking his long streak of silence with me, and asked, "Hey Kairi, Ol' Sid said 'no' again? Will he ever let you go on a mission alone?" "She ignored his question completely, instead asking, rather suspiciously "Who's this?" "Oh," Lea said, looking a little bit offput by her question, "New guy, Kairi, Kairi, Xanthan." She raised an eyebrow. "Xanthan? Who's he?" "Oh," Lea said smugly, "He's Nobody." She seemed a little confused for a few seconds, then her eyes widened suddenly, and she jumped back, a flowery Keyblade appearing in a flash of light.

She leapt at me surprisingly fast, and I only just had time to summon my sword and block the overheaded strike, and she leapt back again, making full use of the fact that she had the high-ground. She jumped at me, and this time, Lea jumped at her, disarming her, and holding her Keyblade away from her, while he held her by her arm, her yelling at him the whole time, that he was a traitor, and crazy, and all sorts of nasty things.

"Hold on!" he yelled at her, cutting her off. "He's cool! I'm taking him to see Ol' Sid! See what he has to say about him. Now, I'm giving the Keyblade back. Don't attack." When the Keyblade was back in her grip, it dissapeared, so I willed my sword away as well. She looked at me angrily. "Fine. But, if you ever hurt someone without a reason, or work against us, you'll pay."

"Wow. She likes you." I looked at him, and he smiled like an idiot.


	6. Not Feeling It

Chapter 6

I began walking up the stairs again, and I heard Lea start running up behind me. "I wouldn't..." was all he had time to say before I opened the final door in the tower. As I opened the door, I saw a brief flash of blue, and a pointy hat, before I was hurled back into the stairwell by a thunderbolt.

Lea ran up the stairs, and he was sent flying into me in the same fashion. I saw past the forest of hair in my face, and saw a tall old man, with a very long beard walk down the stairs, and saying angrily, "If you want to come into the home of a Keyblade master, do as you must. But, be warned, I will-" whatever he was saying, he stopped, and instead made a noise of frustration. "Lea! You really should change your clothes. I thought you one of the thirteen! And who is this?" He still sounded angry, but I figured that this is his normal voice. "This," Lea said with a flourish, "Is Xanthan." The old man immediately threw another lightning bolt into my chest. I tumbled down the stairs, hitting my head on quite a few of them. I was stopped at the next door, which we had thankfully closed. I was just picking myself up, when I saw the blue-clad man descending the stairs. Another flash, and the door splintered as I flew through it. I could hear Lea's voice choing, "Really? Again? Master Sid!" As I tumbled to the next door frame. Unfortunately, Kairi had left that door open, and I found myself at the base of the tower. I charged out the door as soon as I could keep my feet under me, and summoned my sword, ready for another blast of lightning. He came out the doors soon enough, with Lea still trying to talk sense into him.

"Silence Lea!" he yelled, his voice not his usual flavor of angry, but sounding like he was ready to kill somebody. Or Nobody. He launched another lightning bolt at me, but I was ready for this one. I slashed at the bolt, and it hit the ground, causing an explosion of dirt. I looked up at him, just to see a spike of ice coming right at my face. I dove to the right, landing in the fox hole made by the lightning bolt, as he said something like, "Thundaza!" Immediately, the sky darkened, and I knew that something really bad was about to happen. The wind picked up. The sky rumbled a few times. And then it came. It... It HURT. A nobody, that cannot and will never be able to feel anything, just felt pain. It didn't hurt that badly, but I was so shocked to feel anything at all. If I felt that hit, my body must be in horrible shape right now.

I looked down, to find the metal parts of my robe had blackened, and were extremely hot. My sword was on the other side of the island, and 'Sid' was staring down at me, looking weak from his uber attack. The last thing I saw was Lea run up, talking to Sid while he did his best to cover the many holes in my being, leaking gray vapors...

I looked up at Lea, watching me with a puzzled expression on his face. "How are you still alive?" I thought for a minute, and said, "I don't know. But that attack? It hurt." He snorted, and then said, "Well, you _did_ almost die." I shook my head. "No, not like that... I actually felt it. I didn't feel any pain until that point. No sensations, no feelings, nothing. Except that time that Xehanort messed with my mind. That hurt far worse." I looked up at him, and he was staring off into space, looking worried. "What is it?" He snapped his attention back to me. "Well..." He started hesitantly. "That could be one of two things. You could be growing a new heart, like I did, or," and he didn't seem to like the second option, "Xehanort's process is working on you, It's just moving slowly. But," He continued, holding up a hand and sighing, "Keep that info on the down low, Ol' Sid isn't all too happy that you survived. Boy," He kept saying, "You just make friends all over, huh?"

"Apparently." I answered without emotion. His smile fell. "Look," He said, "I've been meaning to talk to you about that." "What?" I asked, it hardly seeming like a question coming from my mouth. "That!" He exclaimed, gesturing at my face. "The-I'm-a-Robot-Crap! In the Organization, we always used to fake emotions to trick our enemies, but you not having emotion clearly bothers our friends even more. At least fake some emotion man!" He looked a little bit bothered that I hadn't understood this yet. I thought about it, and with a humorous tone in my voice similar to that of Lea's, said "Fine. But you're gonna have to teach me a few emotions." He smiled. "Now you're getting it." I smiled back, which was a total farce. All that I had ever felt was pain, and it may be all that I ever feel.


	7. RIP

Chapter 2

The Heartless tore at my cloak, ripping it in several places. They bludgeoned me with misshapen fists, and sliced at me with claws and swords. I somehow heard a soft rustling over the heartless attacking me, and the Heartless turned to battle something as a horde rather than an army. They were driven off by a giant force of Husks. The Nobodies sent the Heartless running, losing more and more as the fled the onslaught. The Nobodies followed my every movement, and then surrounded me, facing outward, as if to defend me.

I looked up at them, as I'd been knocked over in all the confusion of being mauled. noting how those on the inner few rings watched me. The nobodies were all different, with many rings in order all around. The Nobodies only made lines with those that resembled themselves, with lines of large tan creatures, with even larger weapons, strange chakram shaped grey ones, and rows upon rows of the white Zipper-Mouthed ones. There were others of course, but they were too far away to make out. I turned to the Nearest dusk, and said, "Thank you for your aid. without it, I surely would've been destroyed." The mouth of the creature unzipped, seemingly of its own accord. It responded in a voice that could not be heard, only felt.

"Of course, my Liege."

With that, I fell asleep.

I found myself, because 'awoke' is too strong a word, sinking alarmingly fast through water as I struggled to breathe. My sinking slowed, and my feet brushed the floor before i landed in a heap. As I stood, I saw the floor. It was a stained glass floor, with a symbol that I recognized as the same on the heads of the Zipper-Mouthed Husks. It was a symbol of something, of... Husks, I realized. So, It was my symbol, and I embraced it. A voice that I'm sure was all in my head said to me, "A possible bearer of The Keyblade, heartless in his own way, yet a Nobody." I searched for the source of th voice, and walked towards the Nobody symbol, trying to see through it. I couldn't.

Instead it reflected my own image. I was shocked to see that the robes on my reflection were not torn (matching my own), and I looked around again. something was off here. I searched the circular... pedestal, and saw only darkness over the sides, and nothing that explained anything. I heard a rumbling, and turned to see three stands rise from the glass, seemingly without breaking it. Each holding a different item. One held a strange scepter with a symbol atop it with a direct copy of the one that was just adopted as my own, the one on the floor. Another had a kite-shield emblazoned with a matching symbol. The third held a sword, with the same on the hilt. "Choose." The voice commanded with utter contempt. I was inexplicably drawn to the sword, and I longed to have it. I grabbed from the pedestal. It was far lighter than it looked, and three feet of shining metal destruction. I moved after a few seconds of silent awe to the shield, thinking to expand my arsenal. I reached to touch it, but it dissapeared n a flash.

The voice returned, sounding happy, saying, "Now to meet your Somebody." I was again drawn to the symbol on the floor. I looked at the image of myself, and really saw myself for the first time, in literal terms. My face was emotionless as always, andmy blue eyes looked sharp, if a bit bored. My hair was longer than I would've liked, as it could be used against me in a fight. It was only about four inches long, but still. Then the Reflection smiled.

And I didn't.

NOTE: It took me forever to write this down because of the power outages in jersey. However, I am ahead because While my power was down, I continued fleshing out the story.


	8. Xaldin

Chapter 8

Lea helped me to my feet, and as Jack and Sally came rushing towards us, he whispered, "Emotion" to me. I grunted crankily. "If you really think so." I said, sounding grumpy. We began walking to meet them, Lea trying to smile about it, me pretending to be trying not to frown. Sally asked if we were okay, and I responded before Lea could, "Yeah, just exploded, no more than I'm used to." I sounded both grumpy and joking. Good for me.

Jack seemed lost in his thoughts, muttering to himself, "Now... if we could get two of those, on either side of the gate... no, no, just one, and give it a scythe... yeah, that will make a great Halloween." Then looking at us, he asked, "Do you think you could come back and do that again on Halloween?" As a Skeleton, (Albeit, a well-dressed one) It was strange to see his head, not only as a single bone, but to be able to move. Different worlds, different physics I guess. I let Lea field that question, and he said something, like, "We don't control the Heartless, but if there's one here on Halloween, we'll be by to help."

This seemed to satisfy Jack, and he said "Goodbye!" as he began walking away. Sally looked at us apologetically, and said, "He's always like this for a few weeks after Halloween, trying to find ways to outdo himself." she said, and then said goodbye, and left, walking fast, not wanting to seem rude, but also wanting to catch up to Jack. People with Hearts are so confusing.

"C'mon" Lea sighed. "We still have one more world to check." I groaned, and he smiled. "Keep up the faking, and Ol' Sid might start treating you like an equal." I blinked. Faking?

Lea summoned his keyblade, then opened another Keyhole to the next world. When we exited, I searched our immediate surroundings for Heartless. We were on a wall surrounding a castle's courtyard. All I saw were a few Nobodies in the courtyard below, and Lea got out his Keyblade. I looked at him, getting his attention, and mouthed "Where's the Heartless?" He shook his head, pointing at a Dusk with his keyblade, and mouthed back, "Mine." He leapt at the Nobody that was minding its own business, destroying it in a single slash. The other Dusks immediately formed a circle around him, (Being far more intelligent than Heartless) And began attacking him with strange, almost hypnotizing attacks, flowing like water from one attack to the next.

I leapt down next to Lea, and stood beside him. The Nobodies immediately stopped attacking, and looked to me for direction. I smiled a fake smile. "Go to the Realm of Darkness," I said. "Kill any and all Heartless that you find. That should stop many of them from getting to the worlds." Their mouths all unzipped at once, and they dipped their heads, saying, "Yes, my Liege," in unison. They scattered then, dissapearing in flashes of black.

"Forgot the whole 'Nobody' thing. Sorry, should've tried that first." He said, sounding sincere. "Yeah. You should've. Let's check for Heartless and head back." I said to him, sounding and ... not quite 'feeling' apathetic, but as close as possible without emotions. I walked with him up to the Castle's huge front doors, admiring the Gargoyles high above, and destroying the ones attacking us. I slashed through a few of them quickly, when one behind me must've hit me with the blunt side of a weapon, as there was no blood. I sprang to my feet, and drove my sword through the stone Heartless. More kept pouring off of the Castle though, leaping off of the roof, bursting out of windows, coming from the gardens...

"Who needs this many Gargoyles for a castle already _this_ scary looking?" Lea shouted to me, from his place a sea of Heartless away. "There's too many!" I called back, emotionless. "We're about to die!" he yelled back. "At least PRETEND to be afraid." "That would divide my focus, like this conversation." I replied, and focused on the task of surviving the next onslaught, then the next, horde after horde.

I went down under a wave of stone weapons, when I heard an echoing, piercing roar ring out from atop the Castle. The roar came again, this time sounding like it was closing. All of the remaining Heartless surged at him, leaving me and Lea to try and cut through the swarm to save our bestial ally. I stabbed and slashed wildly, as the Heartless before me put up no fight, leaving me free to take risks. The roar sounded once more, muffled under the pile of Heartless. Many of the center Heartless dissappeared in a flurry of teeth an claws, and I was finally able to see our ally.

He was great, brown, and hairy, and he growled as the three of us cleared the Courtyard. He looked crazed, pupils wide with rage, and the dark smoke still rising from his teeth, as he zeroed in on me, and charged as he yelled, "XALDIN!"


	9. A Feeling, A Promise, and A Taste

Chapter 9

He dug his claws into my shoulder, and threw me into the far courtyard wall. I got up as quickly as my body would move on command, briefly seeing the Xanthan sized dent in the masonry. I summoned my sword, trying to get into a ready stance, when the huge mass of muscle and fangs flew at me again. I tried to parry his attacks, but missed most of them, and his great paws batted me around. I got a few good slashes in, drawing some blood into his matted fur, but this only served to further enrage him, as he howled once again in time with a sudden clap of thunder, and this time I heard it. It was... well, it sounded... pained. And not from my failures at trying to harm him.

A downpour began, and I made a split second decision, as my sword evaporated into the air, and I spread my arms, yelling to be heard over his continued howls. "I DO NOT WISH TO FIGHT YOU! I CONCEDE! DO WHAT YOU WANT, I WILL NOT OPPOSE YOU!" His howl ended, and I realized that it was more of a cry of desperation, rather than a howl of anger, though I doubt that he would admit it. He stared into my eyes, and I, seeing the pain there, felt... _ felt_! a deep echo of something. It was hard to know, harder to define, and as faint as a whisper. But it was there. Pity.

He raised a clawed hand to slash me, and I bowed my head, closing my eyes. The blow never came. Instead, about ten seconds later. I opened my eyes to see the beast turn his back on me, purple cloak filled with the past stains of blood and filth. I walked after him, the echo of emotion gone, and caught up with him, falling into step.

"Why did you not kill me?" I asked, not calling him anything, trying not to enrage him. "Because." He said in a deep, bestial voice, "You, are NOT, Xaldin. When all of these problems began, the Heartless, the Nobodies... I thought that he had returned to my castle. Then... when Belle went missing, I began tearing up the place searching for him."

I nodded along. "This... Belle, is she the reason that you want to find Xaldin? You think he took her?" He turned to me as we walked, growling, "Without a doubt." he pushed open the giant oak door to the castle with one arm, and we stepped into the castle's main hall, and headed to a room on the right. We entered to find a well lit room, with Lea tending to a roaring fire, and he turned, starting to ask, "What took you so long?" But the beast was on him in a moment, his paw wrapped around Lea's throat, choking the life out of him. He searched Lea's face, and dropped him. "Not Xaldin..." he muttered.

Lea was on hands and knees, trying to regain his breath, sputtering, "Why didn't you stop him?" at me. I shrugged. "Why didn't you stop him when he attacked me?" I asked indifferently. He groaned, and rolled onto his back. His head lifted to look at the brown mass of muscle in the room with us. "what's your name?" Lea asked, managing to look friendly from the floor. "Beast." He replied in a few seconds. "Well... Beast... I'm sorry to tell you but... Xaldin's dead." I looked at Lea. "But Beast said that Xaldin stole his friend. Belle." Lea winced. "Yeah, a while ago, if I heard things right, but he's been gone for awhile. Sora killed him."

Beast growled. "I was there. But Sora told me that a few of the Nobodies came back, as people. I think that Xaldin took her." Beast turned to me. "I cannot leave my world, someone has to protect my servants. But, If you see Belle... bring her home." I nodded, remembering how this monster... this, Beast, helped me to feel an actual emotion.

"I promise." I told him. Then Lea opened a Keyhole in the wall, and walked through. I stuck out my hand, and Beast took it in his mighty claws. We shook, and I walked after Lea.

* * *

When I came out on the other side, we were back in Hollow Bastion, in front of a huge freezer, with an old duck at a window, speaking to Lea. They exchanged something, and Lea walked up to me, handing an ice-pop to me. He smiled. "Being a Nobody can be a drag. So, I invented a little ritual for myself. After every mission that I survived, I would buy myself some ice-cream. When I discovered this flavor, I was excited. It had been my favorite as a kid, and I could actually _taste _it."

I took a bite, and the sensation was so powerful, so... good, that I could taste it. I savored it, and I began to believe that maybe I was developing Heart. I laughed, but this was a hollow one, a conjured one, for Lea's benefit. "I can taste it too." I said, and Lea smiled again. "You've just been initiated. I'm thinking of calling us 'The Kingdom Keepers', whaddaya think?"

I shook my head, sighing a fake sigh, pretending to have feelings, to prepare for them if they ever came, and said...

"Horrible."


	10. Push, Trip, Fall

Chapter 10

* * *

AN: Chapter 10, I'll try to the epic up.

* * *

Lea and I ascended the tower again, to see Yen Sid. He was staring out of a star-shaped window, and didn't move from there when we came in. Lea immediately began to say something to 'Ol' Sid' when Yen Sid hushed him. He turned to me with a 'what's his problem?' look on his face, and I silently gestured at myself.

Yen Sid turned towards us, then went to sit at his desk, a huge tome appearing on top of it. It opened itself, the pages making a whispering noise in the breeze. I was almost entranced looking at the book, and I'm sure that Lea felt it too... almost like it wanted to, no _needed_ to be looked at. As I stared at the turning pages, an image began to appear as the pages blurred together.

I saw... myself, with a sadistic smile on myself, cleaving through Nobodies at random. The Nobodies attacked me, tearing at my black cloak, trying to stop me from slaughtering them. I stood before a group of twelve, standing behind me, but not cowering from the Dusks. There was a thin tendril of Darkness extending from the old man, which fed into the aura encircling me. I embraced it, looking like this was the most fun that I'd had in years. I watched this scene, and almost felt something. It was close, and I was aware of it, but I couldn't quite feel it, couldn't put my finger on it.

I couldn't hear it, but I saw Xehanort say something, and the tendril coming from him was suddenly amplified, becoming a wave that cascaded around me, destroying all of the Husks around me at once. I fell to my knees, and the sword in my hand faded in blackness, an oversized key, like the one that Xehanort used, took its place. It was exactly like the one that Xehanort had, actually, except where the reptilian blue eye on his was, there was a symbol, the symbol for...

"Heartless." Yen Sid said, breaking me out of my reverie. I looked at him, and he nodded. "You were created when your Somebody gave into the Darkness. However, He was not a true Heartless until now." He said it with some anger, like it was my fault that my Somebody was a horrible person. "It is strange, to see the Nobody's Somebody turn out worse than the Nobody. I owe you an apology." Yen Sid said all of this with a grimace on his face. "Your Somebody must be almost as powerful as Lea by now," He continued, over the protests of Lea. "I'll have to set my best on him. I'll send Riku and Mickey after him, and warn the others."

Yen Sid stood, and walked back to the window. "Lea." He said. "Yes?" "You will continue your regular patrols. If you see Xanthan, put out the alert in case if it is his Somebody. Now leave us." Lea walked off, grumbling something about where he'd like to stick his Key. "Xanthan" He continued without pause. "You will be working with Kairi. The others coddle her, and she needs to be able to fight and grow more powerful naturally. You will accompany her, and protect her, but fight _with _her, not for her." I nodded, though he couldn't possibly see that...

"Good. She's downstairs, waiting for you. Now go." I began trudging, and in fake-Lea style, grumbled, "No rest for the weary."

* * *

I found her impatiently foot-tapping in the small grassy area outside the tower. "Finally." she said with a smile. I looked at her without emotion, and her smile eventually evaporated. "What?" she asked after a while. "Is there something in my teeth?" she asked, sticking her tongue out at me. "No." I said to her. "Where are we headed?" I asked her, sitting on the steps. "I don't know." she said with a smile. "Let's find out!" she exclaimed, using her Keyblade to open a Keyhole right behind me, pushing me through as I stood up, in case if the pointed Keyblade was a threat. I hadn't forgotten her attack on me not a day before.

I fell out of the Keyhole, landing on top of someone else. When I got up, I turned to see the Sally girl from a few hours ago. I reached down to help her up, saying "Sorry," a few times, and when I had helped her up, I saw that I'd knocked a few digits loose. "I'll find them." I said, trying to be courteous to her, and found the missing fingers, (Thumb and Index finger) handing them to her, and watched as she sewed her fingers on. I led her a few feet from the Keyhole, waiting for Kairi to come through. When she saw what was around us, she actually _squeaked_. I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose. It'll be a wonder if we both survive.


	11. Armor

Chapter 11

"Where the... Who are..." Kairi said eloquently. I stopped pinching my nose, and apologized to Sally for knocking her over. She said it was fine, and I nodded, still without emotion. Kairi didn't enjoy being ignored, but I had better and bigger things to attend to. "So, is there any trouble around here? Aside from the Heartless?" Sally shook her head. "You mean other than the trouble _you've_ caused? Not that I can think of." I smiled, it beginning to become a habit, faking emotions. I thanked her, and did my best to exit the conversation without being rude.

I turned to Kairi, who appeared mad. I motioned her to walk with me, and she grudgingly followed. As we walked, she exploded on me. "Why didn't you let me talk? Where are we? Why didn't you let me talk?..." It went on like this for a while, until we reached something that the sign called 'The Unwinding Hill'. It was curled up, so I assumed that it would... Unwind. When her tirade came to a close, I looked at her, emotionless. "Because I was trying to be polite with Sally. If you wanted to talk, you could've said something. I wasn't stopping you." That was a lie. I kept the conversation a bit fast just so she couldn't say anything.

However, the lie seemed to get her to calm down. "So, any idea why we're here?" She asked me. This was unexpected. "Yen Sid said that you would let me know what we're doing. You don't know?" I asked, fake concern rising in my voice. She looked a bit shocked at this. "So we're here for no reason?" She asked. I sighed. That was one thing that I never had to fake. I just sighed whenever someone did something stupid.

"We're here because _you_ had to push me through a portal to another world for some kicks. Now open a portal out of here." I said, walking to the top of the hill, gazing at the sea of Jack-o-lanterns staring up at me, each resembling Jack Skellington a bit. She walked up beside me, and her Keyblade appeared. "You see... I can't really... do, that." I looked at her sharply. "Why not?" I asked, sounding angry. She looked at me. "I thought you couldn't feel emotions..." I shook my head. I wanted to sigh, but I didn't want that to get too old. "I can't." I said through gritted teeth. "I'm a great faker."

She looked down, taking a page from my book and sighing. "So am I. I act confident, do my best in a fight and on missions, but no one trusts me to do a good job. Not even me. That's why I always try to work with someone else, so I can't screw everything up." I looked at her. She looked sad, worse than...

There was a flash, and I was in another place. I stood in front of a beautiful girl, who certainly wasn't Kairi, on a different hill, in a different time. I felt a warm feeling when I was near her, wanting nothing but to hold her close. I looked at her smiling, when a black figure, with beady yellow eyes reared up behind her...

I tackled Kairi to the ground, barely avoiding the giant Heartless behind her's claws. As we picked ourselves up, Kairi drew her flowered Keyblade, and I was tackled by a smaller Heartless that scratched my face, giving me some minor bloody gashes. It immediately faded into the ground, crawling across it as a 2D figure. I got up again, my sword appearing in my hand, and looked at the Heartless that was handily beating Kairi.

It was big. And well armed.

It was a giant suit of armor, with a nicked and faded purple paint on it. It was missing a body, but the armor didn't seem to care. I summoned my sword, leaping to intercept the two handed ax swing heading for Kairi. I slashed into the ax, my sword getting stuck a few inches in, so I decided to leave it. When I landed, some Shadows began to pop from the ground, surrounding me. There were only five, but I was unarmed. This should be fun.

I grabbed one out of the air as it leapt at me, catching a slash to the knee from one popping from the ground. I promptly stomped on that one's head as it sank back into the ground, sending a black mist and a freed heart skyward. I grabbed another that leapt at me, this time holding it by its neck and repeatedly punching it until it faded. The two from before were trying to scramble away from each other, and I grabbed the last one, throwing it at the suit of armor's head.

It had ignored me up until that point, leaving me to the Shadows, but that changed when the small black form disintegrated on contact with his helmet. I threw the other two at him, they also fading on impact, (The Shadows weighed nothing, like real shadows) and his ax came down at me. I waited a few seconds, then rolled to the right, grabbing my sword and heaving it down and back, freeing it. I fake-smiled, ready to seriously damage the thing. I leapt at its boots, slashing into those madly, trying to do as much damage as possible. One of his boots disappeared in the same puff of black mist as a normal Heartless, and I then focused on the other foot. It then disappeared, leaving the armor to float. The arms separated, trying to hit Kairi with the old rusted ax, as the helmet and breastplate came together to make a laser cannon.

Now that hardly seemed fair...


	12. Family

Chapter 12

The laser looked to be charging, so I waited, intending to move when it was too late for it to change. After a few seconds, I jumped to the left, and a laser left a small, smoldering crater where I'd been a few seconds ago. I leapt at the floating chest-piece, trying to get past it and slash at the Helmet. I only scored a deep cut into the chest-piece that the Heartless shrugged off. It turned, charging another blast, so this time I ran for the gauntlets attacking Kairi, and used one as a shield.

It wasn't a very good shield. The laser melted through it in seconds, destroying my shield in one go. The Gauntlet I was holding melted into a purple puddle, which slowly changed into a black mist. Kairi then quickly dispatched the other gauntlet, and when it shot at me again, she was able to drive her Keyblade through the thing's head.

The remnants of the Armor landed on the hill, beginning to roll down at us. It disappeared in the mist before it flattened us, and I walked out of it, the stuff clinging to my robes. I turned to see Kairi, the mist giving her a wide berth. That was curious.

"Think that was the reason we came?" I asked, and she nodded, not up to talking, I guess. Her Keyblade began glowing, opening another portal back to the Tower. I followed with her, and we were...

Not at the Tower. We found ourselves in the town from before. Where those idiots picked a fight with me. Where Lea found me, brought me to Sid. I looked at her, a smile touching my face. "Let's hurry and finish up here before the locals get any ideas. She looked puzzled, but nodded slowly. I led her out of the town as quickly as I could, into a wide, stone field, pitted with scars and foxholes from the battle that Lea had told me about. I whistled, still faking emotion. "1000 Heartless, huh? Looks more like 10,000" Kairi laughed. "Yeah," She said. "Sora was the only one counting, so we went with his numbers." I laughed, sounding pretty sincere, when I stopped abruptly. I'd seen something, small and quick, run between pieces of cover.

I walked up to where I saw it go, drawing my sword, and got ready. I called out, "If you're friendly, come out without attacking." I heard something like a sigh, and a small blue thing, with antennae, back spines, four arms, (Four guns) and fluffy ears step out, only one gun aimed. He looked suspicious, but not worried or aggressive. Kairi made a small noise, and took a step back. I just plastered a fake smile onto my face, and crouched down to see him. If there was one descriptor to use other than 'small' and 'blue', it was definitely fluffy.

He made a throaty noise that sounded like "Huh, Heh, Hi." so I took it as a greeting. I stuck my hand towards him slowly, and he took it in a decievingly strong clawed hand. "What's your name?" I asked him, and he gargled out Stitch. Kairi grumbled that that wasn't even a real name. Stitch growled, and Kairi corrected herself. "In... Iceland? But, what do they know? Stitch is a great name!" I looked at Kairi, thinking that Stitch may be the reason that we came. She got my meaning, and started shaking her head no. I sighed in fake exasperation, and let go of Stitch's hand. Looking at him, I asked, "Where's your family? Friends?" He immediately looked sad, ears, antennae, and shoulders drooping. "Ohana... Is... lost..." He said with absolute sadness. I nodded. "Do you want to come with me?" I'll try and help you find your... Ohana." He perked up immediately, and Climbed all over my body, settling on top of my head, and I felt his small tail beating the back of my head with ferocity. "Ih!" he shouted, which i assumed to mean yes. As he said this, Kairi's Keyblade lit up again.

"Well, aren't we one freaky little family?" She asked, raising her Key to open another portal.


	13. Control

Chapter 13

As I walked through the Keyhole going back to the Tower, I was trying to approach the situation analytically. There were 6 Keybearers on this side. They had many allies on different worlds, all of them fairly powerful. But they didn't trust me. I just brought them a new ally, Stitch, who, despite his appearance, I believe will be extremely useful in a fight. But, Xehanort had 12 extremely powerful people at his disposal, and my Somebody. They had an army of Heartless. But I had an army of Nobodies, if I could find a way to speak to them. And they were ruthless. The playing field seemed fairly even.

So why is Yen Sid yelling at me for taking Stitch out of a wasteland and into a place with actual food and water? Granted, he got into a few fights with the broom servants when they tried to bathe him, but other than that, he was a perfect houseguest. Sid kept yelling in a gruff voice, and I kept nodding along, almost listening. Maybe I should have let Xehanort feed me to the Heartless.

"...And furthermore, this could upset the balance between all the worlds, letting more Heartless in to destroy and ravage! What do you have to say for yourself?" I looked at him, sighing. "I'm sorry that I brought you an ally." I turned and started to walk out, when I heard him mutter, "Foolish of me to think something devoid of emotion capable of caring." I stopped, feeling that faint pang of anger again. I turned to him, and said, "Emotion can be faked. It can even lead to the wrong choice. But intelligence cannot be faked, nor substituted. and this was an intelligent choice."

I walked down the tower, into the yard, where I saw axel walk out of a portal. But it was an Obsidian one, not the one shaped like a Keyhole. I raised my eyebrow at him, and he looked down. "Darkness is something that's hard to get rid of. I couldn't go cold turkey, so I'm weaning myself off." I nodded, finding the answer satisfactory. "Can you give me a portal out of here?" I asked him. He nodded eagerly, "If you won't tell Sid about this." I nodded, and he looked relieved. He pointed his Key, and a Keyhole opened up. I walked through, not caring where it led, but drawing my sword just in case. I ended up in a strange place indeed.

I was back in the Realm of Darkness, and as far as I was concerned, it was an improvement. I looked around, seeing no nearby Heartless, only a few nobodies. I called them to me, and had them set up a watch over me, and to wake me if there was a problem.

* * *

AN: Sorry, Can't find a good way to go with this right now. May be a bit crappy for a minute. Just bear with me.

* * *

I had a faint notion of falling, and opened my eyes to find myself heading back to that place between dreams and reality, but with a distinct feel of darkness about the place. the stained glass floor was cracked, and where the floor was missing entirely, Heartless climbed out, dozens of the Shadows, all keeping away from the one beam of light in the center. The cracks in the floor grew slowly, letting more heartless through.

Xehanort's voice was in my head again. "My control over the both of you is strengthening. Look about this Heart, the heart of your Somebody, and watch as it is engulfed in Darkness.." I already had my sword when I touched down. I began slashing through the Heartless as best I could, but they wouldn't stop. They kept coming, and the cracks kept growing. One slashed a my back from behind, and others joined in, tearing my cloak from me, and backing away, awaiting enough reinforcements to overwhelm me.

I looked down at my bloodied chest, and stopped breathing a moment. My Heart. No. _Xehanort's_ Heart, was not there at all. There was a hole in my chest, all the way through to my back, with pure darkness where my muscles and bone should be. Tendrils extended from there, wrapping the rest of my torso in black, thorny vines. They were extremely slow, but they wer visibly growing, pulling tighter, trying to wrap me in Darkness, steal my mind from me. I felt a faint beat throughout my body, coming from my chest. The whole of my being felt it, a brief moment of control, a moment of being _him_.

I could hear Xehanort again. He was laughing. "You will tell no one of this." He said, and I knew I wouldn't be able to resist. The Heartless descended, and I couldn't move as they ripped at me, clawed at me, began to destroy me.

I woke up with a start, and immediately checked my chest under my robe. The tendrils were gone.

But the hole remained.


	14. Petty

Chapter 14

I paced the floor. I wasn't actually feeling worry, it was just a habit of my Somebody. At least I thought so. I wasn't sure. I was beginning to remember more about Nathan, and the type of person that he was. He used to be one of the guards at Radiant Garden, and was in love with a beautiful girl. I couldn't quite remember her. But she was his everything. He was a guard not to protect the people, though he did so happily, but to protect her. When the Heartless came, she was one of the first to go. He had nothing left, just a sword and a broken Heart.

He didn't mourn forever. When his Heart mended itself, it came back crooked, like a badly set broken bone. He began to go out, attacking anything that he saw, without regard for his own safety. For a while, all that he fought was Heartless, because it was all that he saw. Then there was that kid.

He had lost his mother, and was frantically trying to find her when Nathan found her. He was relieved, because Nathan was wearing his guardsmen uniform, so the child instantly trusted him. The kid was running from a pack of Heartless, which Nathan was able to defeat. Then he turned his attention to the child. He only hesitated a moment.

It was the last time he'd ever hesitate.

I shook my head, trying to clear Nathan from my head, another of his habits. I looked up, to see that all of my Nobodies were watching. I waved them off, saying, "Go and hunt the Heartless. If you see any Nobodies, gather them to help you." The Dusks and Berserkers left quickly, and I sat to ponder what I'd learned.

As Nathan had become more and more of a monster, he discovered more and more secrets of the Darkness. Like the one that I was going to use. I took a deep breath, and held out my hand from my seated position. The portal was there quickly, and I walked through it before it collapsed. When Nathan was first doing them, they were extremely unstable. I was in the Tower, walking in on Lea trying to eat a doughnut. When he noticed me, he jumped to his feet, knocking over the small table, and summoned his Keyblade. I immediately raised my hands in surrender, and said with a monotone, "We need to talk."

He sighed, recognizing me, and said with irritation, "You made me wast a perfectly good doughnut! I thought you were your Somebody, using that portal. What's his name..."

"Nathan." I said. He whistled. "We _really _need to talk."

* * *

AN: Some of you have probably already figured out the Xanthan/Nathan name thing, if you thought of it. But it's a pretty cool name right? Xanthan... By the way, now that Xanthan remembers Nathan, he's going to begin remembering how Nathan fought, and some of his other abilities.

* * *

Lea took me straight up to see Yen Sid, where another guy, a boy really, about 16, was talking to Yen Sid. He seemed to be a goofy person to me, despite how serious he seemed at the moment. Nathan always could read people well. He was arguing with Yen Sid on something. Yen Sid didn't look happy, but he certainly didn't look ready to shoot lightning at the guy. Either I was one of his least favorite, or this guy was one of his favorites. Probably both.

"Sid." I said, interrupting the conversation. "I remember my Somebody. He was a good person before he went crazy. He's gonna be a tough enemy. He was a good swordsman, and is only going to get more powerful. We need to take him down quick." Sid turned to me looking angry. "As I was saying," Sid continued going back to his conversation with the other guy, "We need to quell the Nobodies and Heartless quickly, so that we can focus on the 13. Sora, I want you going to the worlds and taking out all of the Heartless that you can. Nobodies too. If you see one of the 13, come back and get backup."

I looked at Yen Sid, using all of Nathan's memories of anger to convey my dislike for the plan. "No." I said. Sora, (At least, that's what Yen Sid called him) looked at me like I was crazy. "If you see any Nobodies, tell me and I'll deal with them. I'll send them to the Realm of Darkness to slow the Heartless down, and we can deal with any Heartless that get through." Sora looked at me like I was crazy. "The Nobodies don't listen to anyone." He responded with a frown.

Lea walked up, smiling. "They listen to him, because he's..." I cut him off, "I swear to God, Lea. If you start another fight between me and someone else by introducing me as 'Nobody', I'll kill you." Lea stopped smiling. "Party-pooper." Sora looked at me again. "So... you're a Nobody?" He asked. "Yes." "And you're helping us... right?" I sighed again. "Yep." Sora nodded, expression blank. "Cool." He said, and walked away.

"At least somebody doesn't want to kill me on sight."

I asked Yen Sid where Stitch was, and he told me that he was staying with Kairi in Hollow Bastion. I nodded to him, then opened a dark portal right in his office. I walked through it, smiling to myself as I heard his chair scrape the floor, him standing up in shock. Nathan was always very petty.

Sometimes it isn't horrible to be like your Somebody.


	15. Fading

Chapter 15

I was in Hollow Bastion quickly, up on that stone walkway, and was being assaulted by the idiot with the sword, and the sorry excuse for a ninja even quicker. Eh, Nathan was always judgemental. Now that whatever it was that Xehanort had done to me began to take effect, I was feeling things. Unluckily for me, that also meant that I could feel the throwing star sink into my chest. It stung, but wasn't horrible. I guess that I'm not that into it. Or her throwing stars just suck.

I sighed, summoning my sword. When Leon rushed me, I parried, and hit him in the skull with the flat of my blade hard enough to draw blood. Not too much blood, but he was out cold. Then I smiled at the ninja girl, and when she did a back flip, throwing more stars at me, I dodged the stars, ran up to her, and nailed her at the base of her skull with the pommel of my sword. Good, now to slice them up so no one will recognize...

"Xanthan!" Kairi's call brought me back to reality. You are not Nathan. You are not Nathan. I had to fight to control it, especially with feelings in me, I understood his pain, got why he did it. And the memories of this place... They were all his.

Stitch scurried up, looking like a dog, with his spines, antennae, and extra arms missing. He climbed up my robe, and scurried around my head a few times, and felt a smile come up. For once, it wasn't a robotic thing. It was natural. I was actually happy. Go figure.

"So, Kairi, how was Stitch?" She looked tired. "Later." She said. "Now, we have to go see what Yen Sid wants. He wanted us to go on a mission." Crud. Excuses... come on... excuses...

No excuse like the truth. "He's not too happy with me right now. Can you go without me?" She nodded. "If you keep Stitch with you." I nodded, smiling again, this time feeling thankful.

"Appreciate it." I said as she walked through a portal, yawning. I looked up at Stitch, who was still perched on my head. I asked him why she seemed so tired, and he sat up a little straighter and whistled innocently. Little monster. "What'd you do?" I sighed. He slumped a little, and hung his head in front of mine. It was a little weird to see him upside down like that. "Stitch was... loud. Kairi... no look for... Ohana." He looked sad again, ears folded against his head and eyes huge. I reached up and removed him from my head, and held him in front of me by his underarms. "Well then Stitch. How about if you come with me and Kairi, and promise to be good, we'll look for your Ohana. Just you and me." He smiled hugely and nodded. He crawled down from my head, and sat on the ground like a good little dog while I leaned against a stone wall. A solid blue dog and a guy with a pitch black robe hanging in the shadows. Totally natural.

While we waited for Kairi to come back, I tried to focus on my Nothingness. If we had to fight again, I don't want to have to feel pain again. That's one thing that I didn't need Nathan for. When I was sure that I had it, I turned to Stitch. "Hey, Stitch." I was talking in a monotone again, so maybe it'll work. He looked at me, making a 'Hmm?' noise. "Bite my leg. I want to see if I can feel it." He didn't even hesitate, but I didn't feel much. a few needle pricks, but that was it. "Okay Stitch, you can stop." He let go quickly, and sat back down. "Thanks Stitch. Only do that when I tell you, okay?" He nodded to me, and sat rigid again. Kairi walked out of the Keyhole looking angry, and like her sleepinesshad dissapeared. Her Keyblade was there, and quickly struck me in the head, sending me into another wall.

I got up, rubbing my head. Now that one hurt. I wasn't focusing on my Nothingness though, so maybe that was it. I summoned my sword and looked over at Kairi. Stitch stood next to her, a confused look on his face as he gesticulated wildly, pointing at me, then the Keyblade, then himself. I was tired of all of these sneak attacks. I really, really was. I spun my sword fancily, and smiled. Nathan was a pro. And now that I remembered what he knew, so was I. Let's see who's more powerful now.

She jumped towards me as Stitch made a sound of frustration and ran off. I smiled, and ran to where she'd land, and waited for her easy to see stike. when she slashed down, I side stepped and punched her in the gut. When she slashed at me, I wasn't there. I was already behind her, bringing the pommel of my sword down on her back. When she recovered from that, I was fading into an obsidian portal. I came out of a portal behind her, putting her in a headlock, and pulled her in.

We were in Halloween Town, on the Unwinding Hill. I pushed her down from the top, ond she rolled down it as it unwound to let her off gently. When she'd stopped, I was jumping at her. We weren't close. We'd only gone on one mission. And she attacked me.

_Coming from a meeting with Yen Sid._ The still sensible part of me said. The rest of me tried to ignore, but when I landed by her, my sword had dissapeared. This time it faded from view as a Heartless does. In a cloud of Darkness and mist. I stood next to her downed form, and put a hand out to help her up. She looked at my hand, then my sad face, and back at my hand. Then she kicked my feet out from under me, and stabbed me in the chest. I sank to my knees, gasping. I saw a Heart rise from my chest. Xehanort's heart. Then I fell to my side, gasping and coughing, and felt myself fade as my vision did.

* * *

End of Part One


End file.
